Andre has a red flag, Chiang Ching's is blue

[venta]

OK, you people know Stuff about Things. Please can you help me out?

Every year I have a huge struggle trying to find something for a couple of my best friends for Christmas. I'm not entirely sure why, but I find it impossible to gauge their tastes accurately, and have ended up with some fairly limp presents of late.

They're big boardgamers, and I've always avoided that because I'm not very well-informed on the topic. I love games, but they don't seem to happen much in my life at the moment. The last time I felt I had my finger on the pulse, Settlers of Catan was big news.

So, I'd like recommendations of things to give a couple of hard-core boardgamers for Christmas this year. I'm really quite unsure what games they already have stashed round their house, so I think it probably needs to be something quite new, or something quite obscure, to be certain of not giving them something they're already familiar with.

I think they already have all the Arkham Horror expansion packs in the world (ditto Carcassonne). I've played Tales of the Arabian Nights, Shadows Over Camelot, Robo Rally and some other Greek-myth-based game (whose name I forget) with them in recent years. Also Apples To Apples, which one of them described as "what you play while you're waiting for enough people to show up to play a game".

I think they also play a lot of the more traditional games like chess, Go, backgammon and Othello. And poker. Lots of poker.

Any advice or recommendations gratefully accepted.

PS beckyl, if you're thinking "why don't you just come in to the shop and ask me this?", then I shall probably be doing exactly that on the way home this evening :)

Comments

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

Everyone seems to be banging on about Cards Against Humanity at the moment - not played it yet but I've heard good things.

(Jeux Sans Frontieres, btw)

[venta.livejournal.com]

They are? I didn't even know that. Very out of touch :(

I guess I do worry that if it's the game of the moment they'll already have played it.

Jeux Sans Frontieres

... always the first there in any humanitarian crisis :) One kudo to you.

[zotz]

I know it's not exactly hot news these days, but I'm still a big fan of Illuminati, and I don't have much problem finding new people to play it with. War on Terror's been quite fun too.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I like Illuminati too, but on reflection they definitely do already own that. T'other one I'm not familiar with.... yes. Am hitting boardgamegeek a lot this morning. Sounds interesting, thanks!

[zotz]

It's . . . hard to describe, but there's a balaclava. Do you think they'd like a game with a balacava?

[venta.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure. Is it as good as a teapot with a balaclava (http://www.suck.uk.com/products/terroristteapot/)?

[erming.livejournal.com]

My German teacher introduced me to Labyrinth which is great fun.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ravensburger-26448-Labyrinth-Game/dp/B00000J0JF/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354099085&sr=8-1

I guess read the description there, buy from somewhere that pays the tax!

[erming.livejournal.com]

It is quite an old game though...

[zotz]

Hard to say.

Note that in this picture only the balaclava is part of the board game.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think I probably want something newer. I also seem to remember Labyrinth as a kids' game, and I probably want one aimed at adults.

It's a long time since I last played Labyrinth :)

[erming.livejournal.com]

You'll have to rectify that :-)

[robinbloke.livejournal.com]

King of Tokyo (http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/70323/king-of-tokyo) is a good laugh, one of Richard Garfields newer games. Simple to get into and lots of fun as giant monsters battle for control of the mighty Tokyo.

The really nasty horseracing game (http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/126/the-really-nasty-horse-racing-game) This game is to Totopoly (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totopoly) what a boot in the groin is to a handshake. It's a trimmed down and fun betting and racing game for horses where you get your horse to win and nobble everyone elses.

Aye Dark Overlord (http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/18723/aye-dark-overlord) is more a Münchhausen style story game, but great fun as hapless minions try to explain to the dark lord it's really not their fault that important mission horribly horribly failed.

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

This is an impossible question to answer properly without knowing more about your friends' taste in games, so I'm going to randomly assume their tastes are roughly the same as mine. Two recs:

* Libertalia - It's a game about pirates and looting things, what's not to like? Also seems to have a nice balance between being fun the first time you play and having plenty of strategy to keep you interested.

* Spartacus - This hasn't received uniformly good reviews, but people who have actually played it seem to rate it highly.

Important note: I haven't personally played either (although the former is on my Xmas list). On the other hand that caveat would apply to anything recent enough that your friends weren't likely to already have it.

[venta.livejournal.com]

This is an impossible question to answer properly without knowing more about your friends' taste in games

I know :( Sadly, I exhausted my knowledge in my post... I imagine I will have heard them talking about other games, but the names just haven't stuck in my head.

However, thanks for the suggestions (and who doesn't like pirates?)

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

Sounded a lot like an "adult" version of Apples-to-Apples to me.

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes, I have heard good things about King of Tokyo. Good to get a first-hand rec!

[venta.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

You remind me that I've wanted to play Aye, Dark Overlord for ages, too.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Do you mean 'adult' or '"adult"' :)

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

I mean whichever kind it is that has willies in it. :-P

[venta.livejournal.com]

You get today's LOL award for actually making me laugh out loud :)

[beckyl.livejournal.com]

Popular game, only available direct from the manufacturer at present because the print runs are too small for distribution.

[lnr]

Someone was recently asking a similar (but less hardcore) question on theladiesloos community recently - looking specifically for games which work with two players. It's a locked post, but with permission to share the general contents, so here's a quick list of the recommendations from there:

Aquarius
Arkham Horror
Backgammon
Bananagrams
Bohnanza - http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/11/bohnanza
Carcassonne
Cards
Cheapass games (Exploding Cow)
Chrononauts
Dominion
Dominoes
Dungeon Twister
Find It
Fluxx (Pirate, Zombie, Monty-Python)
Forbidden Island - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gamewright-317-Forbidden-Island-Game/dp/B003D7F4YY/
Frustration
Guillotine
Jenga
Labyrinth - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ravensburger-26448-Labyrinth-Game/dp/B00000J0JF/
Lost Cities
Magic: the Gathering
Oregon
Pass The Pigs
Qwirkle
Roll Through the Ages
San Juan
Set
Settlers of Cataan
Spy Game (possibly previously called James Bond)
Tantrix
Tayu

[beckyl.livejournal.com]

Of the stuff noted above, King of Tokyo is in stock and very cool, we have Labyrinth which is awesome and certainly playable with kids, and if you drop in this evening with a list of roughly what they already have, I can make recommendations.

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

Curses, beaten to it! The only Peter Gabriel song I actually like (and I like this one lots).

[beckyl.livejournal.com]

And of the stuff in lnr's list - we have in stock Aquarius, Arkham Horror, Backgammon, Bananagrams, Bohnanza, Carcassonne, Chrononauts, Dominion, Dominoes, Fluxx (Pirate, Zombie, Monty-Python), Forbidden Island , Guillotine, Labyrinth, Lost Cities, Magic: the Gathering, Oregon, Pass The Pigs, San Juan, Se, Settlers of Catan (NOTE does not play 2 players!)